The short answer
Not as a general legal rule, but a courtesy word is wise. A formal notice is needed only where the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 applies, for example when work cuts into a shared wall or removes part of a shared chimney breast, and that notice must reach the neighbour two months ahead. Scaffold on the highway needs a licence, and entering a neighbour's land is by agreement.
When a formal notice is required
For an ordinary roof repair, nothing in law obliges you to notify the people next door. A roof covering that sits wholly on your own building, worked on from your own land, usually raises no notice duty at all.
The exception is party wall work. Section 2 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 gives a building owner certain rights over a shared wall, including the right to take a protruding chimney breast out of a party wall, along with a jamb or flue that sticks out from it. Exercising that right brings the notice rules into play.
Section 3 sets the notice period at two months before the proposed start. GOV.UK adds two points a homeowner should know: a lack of reply must not be read as agreement, and where the owners differ, a surveyor has to be appointed.
The notice is a formal document with a set purpose. That is a different thing from a friendly word about the scaffold. Where a job does involve a shared wall or chimney breast, plan the timetable round the two months. Our guide to a shared chimney stack with a neighbour goes through that situation.
Who deals with party wall questions
A common mistake is to ask building control about party walls. Building control checks that work meets the Building Regulations. Party wall matters are separate, and they go to a party wall surveyor.
The Act covers the owner's rights and the neighbour's rights. It also sets out what happens if the neighbour dissents from a notice, which is that surveyors are appointed to settle an award setting out how the work is to be done. That process has costs and takes time, so it is better started early than discovered halfway through a job.
Not every roof job near a boundary is a party wall job. Re-covering your own slope, replacing your own gutters or repairing your own ridge does not cut into the shared wall. A chimney breast removal or a large alteration at the party line is a different matter, and so can be a new flashing built into the shared brickwork. At the survey, ask whether the proposed work reaches the party wall.
We would rather raise that question before the scaffold goes up than after. If it does apply, a party wall surveyor is the right person to advise, and we cannot give legal advice ourselves.
Scaffolding, access and the highway
The point neighbours notice first is the scaffold. If it stands on or over the highway, Highways Act 1980 section 169 needs a licence granted by the highway authority. For addresses in Rushmoor, Hart, East Hampshire or Basingstoke and Deane, that authority is Hampshire County Council, and its own page expects the scaffold contractor to apply for the homeowner. Elsewhere the licence is organised through the scaffolder, and the question of who applies is worth asking.
Scaffold standing only on private ground needs no licence, yet that gives no right to wander onto a neighbour's property. Putting a tower, a ladder or a skip on a neighbour's drive or garden is by agreement only. If the only way to reach your roof is across their land, ask first, say what you need and offer a date.
Overhanging is another point. A scaffold lift or a sheet that swings over their garden needs their consent in the same way.
Our answer on the Hampshire scaffold licence sets out the timing and the fee. Where a job has several firms on site, the CDM rules for domestic clients also come into it.
A short list of courtesies
A conversation over the fence goes a long way. These are the points worth covering, preferably a week or so ahead:
- the start date and how many days the work should take, as far as the survey allows;
- the days the scaffold will stand;
- where the skip and the deliveries will stand, and whether anyone's drive is affected;
- that there will be noise and dust, especially when old tiles come off;
- a contact number, so that a problem is raised with us and not left to fester.
Give them a chance to move a car, bring washing in and put garden furniture away. It costs a minute and heads off many disputes.
We tell you each day what is being done, and you can pass the same on. If a neighbour is anxious about their own roof or a shared chimney, a look from our side at the joint is easy to arrange.
Everything we offer is listed from the homepage, and the first step is always a survey. A neighbour who has been told what to expect is far less likely to raise a complaint.
